DS v.s. PSP ?

[ronnie]

I am going back and fourth whether to get my kids a Nintendo DS or a Sony PSP for Christmas. I have been leaning towards the PSP because it can do quite a bit more than the DS, but they keep talking about the DS.

Any input from any body that uses either one of these?

Thanks.

[Trev]

How old are your kids? The PSP is a much better system, and indeed does a lot, but the DS, like most nintendo systems has a crap load of games for kids and familes. Most of the PSP games are for adults. My sister (46) loves her psp, she watches movies on it and everything. But she complains about not being able to find more casual games from it.

[ronnie]

Thanks for the input Trev. I have a boy 13 and a girl 16. Sounding like they might enjoy the DS more.

[smutguy]

I have a DS and love it however i grew up in the Nintendo generation LOL I love all the classic games they have came out with for the DS such as Zelda and Mario

on a side note.. im looking at getting a PSP in the near future.

[ronnie]

Thanks smutguy, ya those games are good. I never had a Nintendo when I was a kid. I did have a Intellivison.. any one remember those?

Another reason I've been thinking about the PSP as a store in town has refurbished units for $169, not much more then a new DS.

[ScreaM]

PSPs are pretty popular.

[secretagentwilly]

The DS is pretty cool...but whatever you do, stay away from the Wii...that requires toooo much reading....hopefully the Wii will get better, but right now it sucks...the DS has a lot of cool games...I just want one of the systems to get a casino game with roulette and craps...I'm not interested in the world series of poker....good luck

[ronnie]

Thanks for the replies..

Hoping to get some real input, people who have them.

No one out there?

[NY Jester]

Hey Ronnie, my youngest one (9 and the oldest 18) both want the DS..so it appeals to all the ages. Its small and compact and as mentioned above there is a shit-load of games as well as educational and family style. I'd go with the DS.

[secretagentwilly]

sorry about that ronnie...I guess you didn't need a wii comment...I'd go with the DS...I have one...brainage is cool and animal crossings is another cool game...plus the new csi will be on DS that comes out in january...it's a cool system...I can vouch for that...I know nothing about the PSP...another cool feature of the DS is that it has a built in wireless reciever...so you can purchase the web browser for like $20 and then you can catch a signal whenever you need so if you're ever driving around town with your kids playing in the back seat and you're lost, you can pull up mapquest and find your way...provided you don't have a GPS...so DS is the shit...and it has a lot of cool games already out with several new ones on the way...the graphics are pretty good too...

[ronnie]

Originally Posted by easymama

sorry about that ronnie...I guess you didn't need a wii comment...I'd go with the DS...I have one...brainage is cool and animal crossings is another cool game...plus the new csi will be on DS that comes out in january...it's a cool system...I can vouch for that...I know nothing about the PSP...another cool feature of the DS is that it has a built in wireless reciever...so you can purchase the web browser for like $20 and then you can catch a signal whenever you need so if you're ever driving around town with your kids playing in the back seat and you're lost, you can pull up mapquest and find your way...provided you don't have a GPS...so DS is the shit...and it has a lot of cool games already out with several new ones on the way...the graphics are pretty good too...

Np..

Actually I didn't know the DS was wireless, that's another plus for it. I guess I should have checked it out better. I couldn't find anything about the internet though, have you used the net on yours? Another feature I like is that it plays old advance games as well, probably find them cheap.

Thanks for the info! Very helpful.

[ladydesigner]

I just bought two of my kids (girls - 10 and 8) refurbished DS's for Christmas. Like everyone says, there's tons of games for those. Some neighbor boys have EVERY game system known to man including PSP, DS's, PS3 and a wii. They seem to play with the DS's and PS3 more than anything. They are 5 and 10 years old. Also, the DS takes GameBoy Advance SP games. That's a plus for me as one of my kids has a lot of those games already.

[KG Gary]

I've just bought a DS & some games for my good lady for xmas.
I don't really play games anymore, but if I did I'd definately go with the DS.
So many games to choose from, and with updated versions of all those N64 Mario classics - unmissable.


Oh, and the Wii is a great machine - easymama tells lies, dammit!

[ScreaM]

Originally Posted by NY Jester

Hey Ronnie, my youngest one (9 and the oldest 18) both want the DS..so it appeals to all the ages. Its small and compact and as mentioned above there is a shit-load of games as well as educational and family style. I'd go with the DS.

Which is more comfortable to use?

[ronnie]

Thanks for all the replies. I've been doing some research and I am surprised, the DS can do alot. I learned it can access the net, it can also play mp3's and videos. Of course you need a few attachments to do the above, but they are not that expensive. Can expand the music/video part up to 8 gb with compact flash cards, not a bad deal.

I ended up on youtube and I am amazed, there is a big DS following and what they call home brewed stuff. One guy showed how he set it up to stream music from his pc over wifi, even went and hooked it up to his home stereo in another room, was running winamp on it. Others were even playing quake 2 on it, though it looked pretty slow.

Seems the DS would be a little better for the net than the PSP, as you have a touch screen and keyboard, not sure how you do it on the PSP. Well, I haven't used either, so guess really can't say for sure.

[Jim]

Originally Posted by easymama

The DS is pretty cool...but whatever you do, stay away from the Wii...that requires toooo much reading....hopefully the Wii will get better, but right now it sucks...the DS has a lot of cool games...I just want one of the systems to get a casino game with roulette and craps...I'm not interested in the world series of poker....good luck

I just have to ask..how does the Wii require too much reading? I have used my sons a bunch of times and don't recall any difficult reading.

[terry]

I can vouch for the DS. We have 3 in my house. Hopefully my wife got my hints and will get me one for Christmas.
My nephew 7 years old has a PSP and it is really cool, bigger screen, awesome graphics. He prefers the DS and plays ours all the time. He got one for his birthday and the PSP just sits there now.
Costco here is selling a DS with 2 games and a case for 178 CDN.
You can also get a headset for like 10 bucks to use when playing games online so you can chat with the other players.

[secretagentwilly]

Originally Posted by Jim

I just have to ask..how does the Wii require too much reading? I have used my sons a bunch of times and don't recall any difficult reading.

Godfather is like that when you're finding stuff and training with Lou Braso and Mario Party 8 has a lotttttttttttttttttttttt of reading when you're playing the little games, when the ringmaster is explaining how to play and score the points...it's like that for everyyyyyyyyyyyy game on Mario Party 8. It just burned me out...Rapala fishing was cool though...the thing with godfather is that you can't skip the intro and the little films...at least I wasn't smart enought too